Try Optimism
by only-mj
Summary: Eijiro is working a hostage situation, forcing Katsuki to wait outside like a civilian. While worrying about his husband's safety, he has a talk with his senpai that puts things in perspective for him. No one ever said being a hero would be safe or easy, so why does Katsuki need to worry so much about it? KiriBaku, MomoJirio, MiriTama (Implied Violence, Character Injury)


He ran as fast as he could to the address mentioned on the police scanner. _Elementary school off Eighteenth. Hostage situation. Armed villain._ Katsuki was not anywhere close to that area, but damn he was about to be. _Creati, Suneater, and Red Riot responding. Heroes have managed to infiltrate. Gunshots have been heard from inside._ Those three should be enough to handle this type of situation. Why were these idiots not enough?

By the time he reached the location his heart was pounding up in his ears and his chest was restricting tightly against his costume. Katsuki was not pleased by the sight of the police barricade or the other Pro Heroes on standby. He was getting into that building and he did not care who he had to go through to do so.

"Sir? Sir!" A police officer called out to him, rushing to stand in front of him and daring to try to stop the fired up pro. "This is a restricted area." He explained, holding his hands up to Katsuki. "Please stay behind the line."

"I'm a Pro Hero." He snapped, using all of his self control not to blow up, literally, at the officer. "I'm getting in there." He said bluntly, ignoring the clear orders from the police.

"There are already heroes inside handling the situation." The officer explained, trying his best to pacify the obviously infuriated hero before him. "Please wait out here." As Katsuki tried to side step him, the police officer stepped in his way once more, earning a dark threatening glare from Katsuki.

"If the heroes are handling it then why are you still reporting fucking gun shots on your scanners?" Katsuki snapped, easily shoving the officer aside with absolutely no effort on his part. "Now let me through!"

"Listen to orders for once, dammit!" An irritated voice snapped from behind him, the sound of footsteps quickly approaching him.

The words: "Don't fucking tell me what to do," left his lips before he had even turned around. He found himself able to relax the smallest amount once he discovered the source of the voice was Earphonejack. Not that he was freaking out, of course, but it was good to know that someone competent was on the outside doing something productive. "What's going on in there?" He asked her immediately, not bothering to waste time with pleasantries.

Kyouka sighed, easily recognizing that his anger was covering his worry, not that she could blame him. "Some sicko's trying to see his kids that he doesn't have custody over. The usual shit." She explained quickly with a practiced professionalism that did not go unnoticed by her colleague.

Katsuki scowled at her. "That's not what I'm asking. You know I don't care about that shit."

Not giving him any room to argue with her, she replied back, "I'm trying to be objective here." A deep frown sat on her face as she continued to keep her hero voice calm and level and trying to get him behind the tape where he belonged so she could get back to her job.

"Well I'm about as objective as I'm gonna get." He barked back at her, sparks flying up from his palms as he tried to show her how serious he was about getting inside. "My husband is in here, you idiot!"

"So is my wife!" She yelled back, unfazed by his quirk and ready to be done with his outbursts. Kyouka honestly did not think that her stress level could possibly get any higher, but he was definitely testing her. "I am trying to get everyone out in one piece. So, get the fuck behind the line and let me do my damn job." She warned, stepping up close to him and sizing him up.

Anger swelled in his chest as Kyouka ordered him around. He wanted to fight her. He wanted to throw her aside and rush in there and kill the asshole causing this mess. Katsuki was smart enough to realize when his hands were tied, though. The rational part of his brain telling him that Kyouka was right. He felt entirely helpless, but he knew there was nothing that he could do. It was 'being handled'. He let out a sigh, cooling the heat building up in his palms. "Just get them out…" He muttered.

"I always do." Earphonejack responded, flashing him a smile before patting him on the back and turning back to the police officers. "He won't give you anymore trouble, right?" She asked, glancing over at the other hero.

Katsuki growled, taking a few steps away from the barricade like some stupid civilian. Unable to do anything, he kicked at the curb before sitting down on it as close to the police line as he was allowed. "Stupid villains…" He muttered, staring down at his palms.

Every second that went by filled him with more and more anxiety and rage. He buried his face in his hands, tugging on his pale hair as time went on with no updates. His toes began to tap impatiently on the street. "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit." He swore into his curled up body.

Katsuki's head snapped up when he felt an unsolicited hand on his shoulder. Before he could yell at the person invading his personal space, he found himself halted at the sight of the wide smile across a familiar face. "You're wiggin' out, friend." Mirio stated bluntly, unfazed by Katsuki's deep scowl.

"Fuck off." He snapped, swatting the large hand away. "Leave me alone."

Instead of doing just that, Mirio sat down beside him on the sidewalk. "Your man in there?" He asked kindly, pointing to the building across the street.

Katsuki let out a shaky breath before nodding, giving himself permission to admit out loud the cause of his concern now that his blind anger had turned into overwhelming dread. "Yeah…" He looked up to the taller man. "Yours, too, right?" He asked, vaguely recalling the other names called out on the police scanner.

"Yup!" Mirio beamed, proud smile on his face. "That's my boy in there!"

The younger hero gave him an incredulous look, never having quite figured out what was ever going on with his former senpai. He always thought that there was something off about the overly cheerful man. "What's that stupid smile for, then? Why aren't you worried about your boyfriend?" He snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You know they reported gunshots earlier don't you?"

Mirio let out a booming laugh at the questions, which absolutely shook Katsuki at how out of place his reaction seemed. "How can I be worried when I'm too busy being so proud!" He grinned, wrapping an arm around Katsuki's broad shoulders. The Pro Hero growled at the sudden contact. He began to struggle to get away, only to be held firmly in place as Mirio continued. "Suneater has wanted to be a hero his whole life. Sure he knows the risks, but he's living his dream and succeeding at it. And as his boyfriend I get to see him live his dream everyday, and that's absolutely inspiring. I love him too much to stand in his way." Mirio explained, no longer having to struggle against Katsuki as the man under his arm began to calm down. "And worrying about him isn't gonna stop the danger of the job. So, that just means that all I can do is be proud of my boy." Katsuki gave him a slow nod, realizing that he was right. "Besides, nothing's more fun than getting to cheer with the crowd as your partner emerges victorious from a fight!" He continued, crushing Katsuki against his side with his enthusiasm. "And the bystanders are cheering and the guys and gals are swooning over the big strong hero and you get to be the one to yell, 'that's my boy!' and see everyone get all jealous and your partner get all embarrassed and blushy!" He grinned, pink filling his own cheeks at the fond memory.

In the way that only Mirio could be famous for, Katsuki began to feel more at ease while the older hero spoke on about how much he loved his boyfriend. Try as he might, there was no way Katsuki could argue with how proud he felt of his husband everyday that he got to work beside him. "Yeah…" Katsuki nodded. "Yeah, I think you're—"

"And we're clear!" Kyouka yelled through the thick tension, retracting her earlobes and jumping to her feet. "Villain down!" She exclaimed, running towards the front doors of the building.

"We are clear for evacuation! Go! Go! Go!" The police officer ordered to his subordinates as they rushed the school shortly behind Earphonejack.

After a few long and tense minutes, the first of the hostages began to exit the building. As the children were slowly lead out of the building, Katsuki felt his worry come creeping back. Why were the heroes not coming out? Where were the pros?

He felt a firm pat on his back, jolting him out of his worried state. "Come on." He heard Mirio say. "We gotta go make a scene when they come out." Mirio smiled, rising to his feet and grabbing a hold of the police tape in front of him with anticipation.

Katsuki rose behind him, swallowing down his heart that was beating up in his throat. Minutes felt like hours as students and teachers were carried or escorted outside. Finally a hero emerged. His relief immediately turned to horror when Creati was not followed out by the other two heroes, nor her wife. "Hey! Creati! What the fuck!" Katuski swore at her. "Where's Riot?!"

Clearly exhausted, she made her way towards the two men. "It's okay. It's okay." She said quickly in her hero voice, still acting on instinct and playing her role of the hero.

"Don't feed us that bullshit! Where are Riot and Suneater?!" Katuski demanded, slapping Mirio away from him as a side hug was attempted.

"Red Riot and Earphonejack are getting the last of the hostages out." She stated matter-of-factly. She took a deep breath, looking down at the street before continuing. "Suneater did get hurt." Momo admitted softly before looking back up to Mirio. "But I promise it's nothing serious. I would recommend taking him to a doctor, but I'm sure he'll recover just fine."

The two trained heroes saw the momentary drop of his smile before Mirio quickly recovered and slapped his trademark smile back on his face. "Thank you for your honesty, Creati. Job well done in there!" He thanked her, bowing slightly.

When she realized she was not going to be yelled at, Momo let out a sigh of relief. She returned the bow and headed back to the scene at hand. Once she was gone, Katsuki scoffed. "Still think not worrying is smart?" He mocked, waiting anxiously for Eijiro to emerge as promised. He knew that what he said had been a low blow, and that Mirio did nothing to deserve the rude comment, but it had been a stressful day, and both heroes were tired and ready for this whole ordeal to be over.

Mirio's voice was low when he answered. His eyes remained fixed on the school as he spoke with an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Would you rather it be a hostage that was hurt? One of the children?" Katsuki took in a sharp breath at the surprisingly harsh words of the older hero. "Creati said his injuries weren't serious. To me, that's the best I could ever hope to get, right?" He flashed Katuski a quick look just as the remaining heroes emerged from the school. Tamaki was resting against Kyouka, his arm over her shoulders as he limped, wincing with every other step. From where they were standing, they could tell that Kyouka was talking to him, offering words of encouragement as they walked out at a pace he was comfortable with. "Why don't you try giving optimism a chance, bro?" Mirio asked, just before ducking under the police line and running towards his boyfriend, taking a hold of his other side to support him. Tamaki's face turned a deep red as Mirio planted a firm kiss on his temple.

Not that Katsuki was moved by the gesture or anything, but he knew that Mirio was right. The battle was over, and his husband was one of the heroes that had saved the day. What was better than that? What reason did he have to still be so angry?

A smile finally came across his face as the final hero stepped out of the building, one child on each of his hips and a wide smile on his face. "That should be the last of them." Eijiro told one of the police officers, handing off the children. He flashed the kids another smile that was directed at them individually, patting them on their heads. "Thank you both for being so brave today! You guys did a great job and really helped me out!" He spoke loudly enough that most of the crowd could hear him and it made Katsuki's heart melt and how easily kindness came to his husband. "You were super manly today! Great job!" Red Riot grinned, holding his hand up to get high-fives from the two shaken but quickly calming down children.

The people in the crowd began to clap at the adorable sight, cheering with the relief that the whole nightmare was behind all of them thanks to their heroes. "Hey!" Katsuki yelled, immediately catching the attention of Red Riot, the rest of the relief team, and a majority of the crowd of bystanders. He pointed directly at Eijiro and for a moment the Pro Hero thought he was in trouble. "That's my husband!" Katsuki yelled proudly.

Eijiro's look of surprise immediately turned into a smile, tears welling up in his eyes at the beautifully manly declaration of love that had been directed towards him. There was a second as though he was trying to decide what his next move should be before he was running off towards his husband and into Katsuki's strong arms. "What's that all about, husband?" Eijiro asked sweetly, being held close against Katsuki's chest, pressing his smile against the side of Katsuki's face.

Over Eijiro's shoulder, Katsuki caught sight of Mirio, flashing him a thumbs up. Katsuki scoffed as though the brand new and uncharacteristic scene was something that he had done all the time to Eijiro. "What? A guy can't be happy to see his own man?" He asked, usual grumpy tone setting back in.

Eijiro let out a quick chuckle before he gave him a tight squeeze, feeling safe for the first time that day in his lover's arms. "I suppose that's alright, I guess." He tried to play cool, giving Katsuki a deep kiss in front of the crowd.


End file.
